The Golden Age of the Streetcar

[Farace]

Was Santa in the Cleveland Peter Witt?

Yes, indeed, Toronto car 2898. It also hosts the Easter Bunny in the spring.

And I get to hang with Santa. We're buds.

I think it's funny that kids tell me I look like the conductor from Polar Express. Then I have to apologize for not being skilled enough to punch words with my ticket punch.

 

[vitanola]

Yes, indeed, Toronto car 2898. It also hosts the Easter Bunny in the spring.

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And I get to hang with Santa. We're buds.

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I think it's funny that kids tell me I look like the conductor from Polar Express. Then I have to apologize for not being skilled enough to punch words with my ticket punch.

Have they got any of my old friend Gerry's cars running?

 

[Farace]

Have they got any of my old friend Gerry's cars running?

You have to give me more of a hint. I'm in only my third year of operating, and I'm still meeting people. A number of the cars that were damaged in hurricanes Sandy and Irene have been repaired, with more on the way. Unfortunately those storms caused damage that set back any restoration work that was in the queue; many of the motors of the regular service cars ended up under salt water, necessitating lots of work for electric motor shops. On the plus side, the damage prompted the construction of new car barns above the 100-year flood level, with the further benefit of a new shop pit strong enough to support the heaviest cars. Exhausted of that, Brooklyn PCC 1001, which is too heavy for the old pit, has finally gotten its control system reworked.

If you have specific cars you're wondering about, let me know and if I don't know, I'll ask. I'll be there again on Saturday for Haunted Isle, will probably sign up to work Astronomy Night, and definitely some of the Santa Trolley (my favorite event).

 

[vitanola]

The late Gerry Brookins. The old Trolleyville U. S. A. collection.

 

[Farace]

The late Gerry Brookins. The old Trolleyville U. S. A. collection.

Sorry for the late reply; I was in NYC all day at a convention.

That's not ringing a bell. Are these models? They were setting up new displays in the visitor center over the summer, including an electric model layout, but I haven't seen it finished yet. I'll ask around.

 

[vitanola]

No. Gary was a.pioneer in the trailer park/mobile home/manufactured housing industry. He had fond memories of the streetcars and jnterurbans in Cleveland. In 1953 he opened a large new suburban mobile home.park. In '54 He bought his first four cars, Kullman double ended Interurbans of 1914 vintage from the Shaker Rapid line, and then bought at scrap the poles, wire, and rotary converters from the Clifton Blvd. line and set up a two and a half mile system around his Park. The collection eventually grew to twenty eight cars. The park was sold in 2001, the equipment was to have been moved by 2006, but the Global Financial Crisis interfered with fund raising, and the collection was dispersed in 2010 with the assistance of your museum's Bill Wall.

 

[Farace]

No. Gary was a.pioneer in the trailer park/mobile home/manufactured housing industry. He had fond memories of the streetcars and jnterurbans in Cleveland. In 1953 he opened a large new suburban mobile home.park. In '54 He bought his first four cars, Kullman double ended Interurbans of 1914 vintage from the Shaker Rapid line, and then bought at scrap the poles, wire, and rotary converters from the Clifton Blvd. line and set up a two and a half mile system around his Park. The collection eventually grew to twenty eight cars. The park was sold in 2001, the equipment was to have been moved by 2006, but the Global Financial Crisis interfered with fund raising, and the collection was dispersed in 2010 with the assistance of your museum's Bill Wall.

I was at the museum last night working Haunted Isle, and a former president was there, someone who is also deeply involved in all the shop work, acquisitions, etc. I asked him about your friend's cars, and he knew exactly what I asked about but told me that no, we don't have any of those cars, but that the other trolley museum in Connecticut, up at Warehouse Point, has one of them (and he knew exactly which car, the number of which which escapes me at the moment). (There are two trolley museums in Connecticut.) The Warehouse Point museum, and the Seashore museum in Maine, are both older than the Shore Line Trolley Museum, but we are the oldest operating museum, as the others didn't have any trackage, and we were able to take over a mile and a half of existing Connecticut Company line the day after the last official trolleys were run in 1947 (interesting note: the company sold the line to the museum for just the scrap value of the track, and had allowed the museum to store cars it acquired at its car barns in New Haven until the museum had a place to store them). (The museums are all friendly with each other; they often trade surplus parts needed for restorations back and forth, and I believe there is some sort of program in place where membership at one will gain you entrance to the others, but don't quote me on that. I know that some of our operators are also operators at Warehouse Point. Also, the open car that runs at Lake Compounce amusement park is leased from our museum.)

Here is a link to the Warehouse Point museum's collection page:

https://www.ct-trolley.org/about/collection/

 

[Farace]

I had to share this gorgeous photo that I swiped off a Streetcar group on Facebook. The caption explained that it appeared to be NYC in 1898.

 

[David Conwill]

Weird to see such an urban area with no automobiles! Interesting that the business furthest to the right says Schenectady something. Could this actually be upstate?

 

[Farace]

Weird to see such an urban area with no automobiles! Interesting that the business furthest to the right says Schenectady something. Could this actually be upstate?

I noticed that, too, but I have no answer. I could imagine a Schenectady [something] being a shop in NYC, but who knows?

 

[David Conwill]

Interesting to compare these bridges over the Erie Canal in Schenectady with the ones in the photo above. Trolley tracks and everything.

 

[Farace]

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Interesting to compare these bridges over the Erie Canal in Schenectady with the ones in the photo above. Trolley tracks and everything.

I'd say that's a distinct possibility! Looks quite similar indeed. Good sleuthing!

 

[David Conwill]

Ah! Look! State Street at Erie Boulevard (former route of the Erie Canal) in Schenectady looking south. The distinctive theatre building on the other side of the canal still stands.

 

[Farace]

Apparently others in that streetcar group on Facebook have taken the original poster to task, and the identification has been changed to Schenectady. They also strongly suggested that it was from the late 1930s, rather than 1898. (Now I want to see the photo that should have been NYC in 1898!) Still a gorgeous photo, hopefully correctly identified now.

 

[David Conwill]

They filled in the canal in 1925, so it can't be any newer than that.

 

[vitanola]

I had to share this gorgeous photo that I swiped off a Streetcar group on Facebook. The caption explained that it appeared to be NYC in 1898.

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It is later than 1898. The lamp standards are ove a type which post dated the introduction of the Mazda Type C light bulb in 1910 or 1911, and the theater in the picture appears to date from the mid-ought to very early ‘teens. Great photo, though.